Prior art fuel injectors include a discharge end which sprays fuel at an angle oblique to a longitudinal axis of the injector. One design includes a discharge channel which extends along the longitudinal axis, but has a discharge end face which is oblique to the longitudinal axis. This design produces a spray pattern which sprays fuel at an angle oblique to the longitudinal axis of the injector, but is elliptical in shape.
It is believed that another design of fuel injectors includes a discharge channel which is at an angle oblique to the longitudinal axis and has a discharge face which is generally perpendicular to the discharge channel. The discharge face includes a circular exit orifice for discharging the fuel. However, the fuel can be discharged only at the angle of the discharge channel relative to the longitudinal axis. If a user requires a different spray angle, a different injector having the discharge channel at the different spray angle must be used, requiring a significant amount of tooling.
It would be desirable to have a fuel injector which discharges fuel at an angle oblique to the longitudinal axis of the injector, but discharges a circular spray of fuel from the injector, and can be manufactured to discharge the circular spray at one of a variety of desired angles.